Page 5 of Taken by the Bratva (Bychkov Bratva #1)

Aria

I quietly let myself into the apartment, careful not to make too much noise on my way to my room. I pass Gia asleep on the couch with the TV still on one of her favorite reality shows, and she looks too comfortable to wake up and get her to bed. Besides, I’m not in the mood for a peppering of questions right now, so I leave her to sleep.

I can’t believe Kelsey sent me home like I was the problem tonight. That asshole was the one out of line and should’ve been kicked out. First thing in the morning, I’m telling my manager I’m not working any more parties. Hell, I wish I could take a break from working all together. It’s not like I need more money, and tonight has been just one in a long line of reasons I’m tired of my job.

Sighing, I close my bedroom door and flick the light on. I catch my reflection in the mirror resting against the wall by my dresser, and the diamonds adorning my ears and neck wink at me as I pass.

Shit.

I wasn’t even thinking when I left. I knew it’d be okay to return this dress some other time, but I completely forgot about the jewelry. I signed a freaking contract on them and they’re owned by one of the brothers.

Damn it.

Now I have to find a way to return them without having to see any of them, no matter how much I want to see Daniil again.

I take the earrings and necklace off and place them on my dresser, and then go for–

Fuck.

No.

Oh my God.

The bracelet isn’t on my wrist anymore. I spin in a circle and look all around me like it’s going to somehow magically appear.

I don’t know when the last time I saw it on my wrist was.

Was I wearing it when I left the club? Could it have come off in the car?

No, I don’t think I had it on in the car, but I text Sammy just in case.

Me: Can you ask the driver tonight to check his car for a diamond and ruby bracelet?

Sammy: I’ll call him now.

I can’t believe this. I don’t remember what was in the contract other than Alina saying I had to pay for it if they weren’t in the same condition I received them. How much money was that thing worth? It was definitely worth a lot, but I can pay it if I must, and my racing heart slows just the slightest.

My phone buzzes with Sammy’s reply and my stomach knots.

Sammy: He didn’t find anything.

Me: Do you trust him?

Sammy: He knows better than to lie. I’ll go back to the club.

Me: You don’t have to. It’ll be fine. I’ll just have to pay the Bychkovs for losing it.

Sammy: I’ll going back to look around and ask the security guys if they saw anything.

Me: Fine. Thank you. Keep me posted.

I sigh in relief when I take my heels off, then again when I unzip the dress and peel the tight white leather down my body. I drape it over the back of the chair at my vanity and grab my bath towel before tiptoeing my way to the bathroom down the hall.

A hot shower does little to relax me, though, because as the water beats down on my skin, my mind goes to thoughts of Daniil and his large hands and how they would feel roaming all over my body, knowing exactly how to drive me insane. There’s no doubt in my mind that he knows how please a woman. There’s no way a man as dark, sexy, and powerful as him hasn’t had an endless stream of women in his life that he’s left thoroughly fucked and then put firmly in his rearview mirror.

I don’t see a man like him being able to stand the company of a woman for longer than the time it takes to satisfy them both, and I’m not the kind of girl who does flings or one-night-stands.

Why am I even thinking about this? Daniil and I are never going to be anything. Whether a fling or relationship, neither is going to happen.

I angrily turn the dial to shut the water off and finish my nighttime routine before walking quietly back to my room. I slip a silk nightie over my head and climb into bed, but my body still buzzes with unmet needs.

Damn it.

Groaning my frustration, I toss and turn for far too long before I finally reach into my nightstand and grab my vibrator. It’s not what, or who, I want to get me off, but then again, it’s all I’m used to.

It’s kind of hard to have sex when you grow up in a family as tightly knit and protective as mine. Then when I moved out with Gia, Sammy and Jonny were always with us or down the hall in their apartment. There has been no time or opportunity for any sexy flings around the world when I barely got a chance to be alone. All I’ve managed are a handful of hot make out sessions in dark corners of clubs before I was found by Sammy or Jonny and told to stop or I’d be put on the first plane home and moved back in with my parents.

That’s why I need a break from this life so damn badly. I just want to be alone and free for once. I’m not ungrateful for all I have and the once in a lifetime opportunities I’ve been given, but that doesn’t mean I don’t crave time when I can just be me. If I even know who she is. I’ve been dressed up and put on display, guarded to make sure nothing and no one touches me, treated like a fragile little girl, and thought of as one half of a pair rather than my own person for years.

I don’t know who I am on my own.

I certainly want to find out, though.

I need to turn my brain off. I’m on the verge of spiraling down a hole of self-pity and I don’t want to find out where the bottom is.

It’s safer to dream about Daniil tracking me down and finding me here, wanting and waiting. He’d rip the delicate silk from my body like the beast I know he is that’s simmering right below the surface of his steely exterior, and find my nipples hard and my pussy already slick from just thoughts of him.

Turning my vibrator on, the soft whirr fills the quiet room and I glide it over my silk covered nipples and down my torso. My legs spread on instinct, raising the short hem of my nightie so I can slide the purple silicone toy through my pussy. I imagine Daniil standing at the end of my bed, those intense blue eyes taking in every inch of me and watching me pleasure myself while I imagine it’s him and not my vibrator.

He'd make that sexy growling sound I heard him make tonight when he didn’t like that someone else was looking at me and he’d have to fist his hands at his sides to keep himself from being the one to touch me like this.

Oh…

My inner thighs tremble as I find the right spot against my clit, feeling the zing of pleasure flash through me.

I lift my hips and rock against the vibrator, trying to find the rhythm I need to get me there faster. It slides against my pussy easily with how wet I am, bumping my entrance with every pass.

“Yesss,”

I hiss, pressing down harder to get as much friction as I can.

God, I wish it was him here taking care of me.

So incredibly tall.

Muscles carving his body into a brick wall.

Eyes that cut through me like lasers.

Hands that defend my honor.

A sexy, deep voice, speaking English and Russian, that makes me want to drop to my knees and wait for a command like he gives his men or Rex.

So much power. So much authority. So much darkness surrounding him.

Everything.

Everything about Daniil Bychkov has driven me to use my vibrator in hopes an orgasm will get him out of my system.

I keep pace with the rocking of my hips, and just when I think I won’t be able to come like this, I imagine Daniil ordering me to come, and I have no choice but to let go, my legs shaking and my mouth open in a silent cry.

Breathing hard, I turn off the vibrator and shove it away from me under the sheets, finally content enough to sleep. I’ve never been able to make myself come like that before, and it has my mind wondering as I drift off, how much more intense it would be with the real man.

* * * *

My phone vibrating on my nightstand wakes me up and I groan. Blindly reaching for it, I crack one eye open in my now brightly lit bedroom to see who’s calling, and then it all rushes back to me.

“Sammy, did you find it?”

I ask him right away, my voice filled with sleep.

“No, I didn’t, and no one turned it in.”

“Shit,”

I curse softly.

“Of course not. It was diamonds and rubies. Well, I still need to hand in the pieces I didn’t lose, so I’ll deal with it then. Thanks for going back to look for me.”

“No problem. Let me know when you need a ride to wherever you need to go to handle that. I’ll be ready.”

“I can handle it, Sammy. I’ll bring them to the agency. I don’t need you today.”

“It’s my job, Aria. After everything last night, I’m not letting you go anywhere alone today.”

“Then you’re fired,”

I tell him, and hang up.

I wish I had the power to fire him. I don’t need help with everything I do like a child.

Throwing the covers off, I grab the vibrator from under my sheets and take it with me to the bathroom to clean. I go through my morning routine and avoid looking at myself in the mirror. I don’t want to see what I know will be looking back at me.

Shrugging on the fluffy robe I keep on the back of the bathroom door, I shuffle out into the living room to find Gia gone from the couch and the blanket she was cocooned in folded neatly and draped over the back of the couch. She must have found her way to her bed at some point in the middle of the night.

I make myself a cup of coffee and curl up in the loveseat by the windows to look out at nothing in particular. I’m tired of this view, too. I wish I was looking out at the Atlantic rather than the city that holds so many promises, possibilities, and people, but can make you feel so alone and trapped.

“Morning,”

Gia says groggily, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“How was last night?”

Isn’t that a loaded question?

“Where should I begin?”

I keep looking out the windows, hearing her make her own cup of coffee in the kitchen.

“That bad, huh?”

“You could say that.”

“Tell me everything,”

she insists, coming to sit next to me.

“How are you feeling?”

“I think I just ate something that didn’t agree with me because I feel fine this morning.”

“Good.”

“Don’t deflect,”

she says pointedly.

“Tell me what happened last night.”

I start at the beginning and tell her everything, leaving nothing out, and Gia doesn’t say anything until I finish.

“Holy. Shit.”

A grin spreads across her face and she kicks her feet out like a kid who got the best gift on Christmas morning.

“This is amazing, Aria.”

“How? How is this possibly amazing?”

“He got you so hot and bothered you needed a little help to get you to sleep?”

“Is that all you took away from everything I told you?”

“No, of course not.”

She rolls her eyes and waves her hand dismissively.

“It was the last thing you shared so I’m starting there. Damn, I wish I was feeling okay yesterday so I could’ve seen it all for myself.”

“Who knows? He might’ve taken one look at you instead of me and stabbed a guy for you.”

“It doesn’t work like that, A.”

“What doesn’t?”

“Attraction. Connection. We look the same, but we’re not the same person.”

“I’m not so sure. You know how guys have always been with us.”

“Yes, but those guys have twin fetishes and fantasies.”

She shrugs.

“It’s normal, I suppose. I mean, if I saw a set of sexy twin guys who were tall and muscly, with square jaws covered in stubble and blue eyes that shone like the ocean, I’d definitely have fantasies about having the both of them in my bed and I wouldn’t care about how different their personalities were, either.”

“Jesus, G.”

I take a sip of coffee and look at her over the rim of my mug, a smile tugging at my lips.

“I see your point, though.”

“Exactly,”

she says smugly.

“Now, back on topic. What are you going to do about him?”

“Nothing,”

I say quickly.

“Nothing at all. Last night was last night.”

“You have to return the jewelry, right?”

“Yeah, but I figured I’d just call Kelsey and tell her what happened and then bring it to the agency so she can deal with it.”

My phone starts vibrating and I pull it out of my robe pocket.

“Speaking of,”

I mumble, then answer the call.

“Hi, Kelsey.”

“Morning, Aria. I’m sorry about last night, but we have a problem. You didn’t return your jewelry before you left.”

“I know, I forgot. I can bring them to you later.”

“Uh, well, no, you can’t. Later isn’t good.”

She pauses.

“After cataloguing all the pieces late last night, I noticed that yours were missing and I had to tell Mr. Bychkov before he arranged for pickup of the gems.”

“Why didn’t you call me first?”

I ask, panicked.

“The cases were to be sent up to the club’s safe and then scheduled to be picked up and brought back to the store this morning. I had to let Mr. Bychkov know about the discrepancy.”

“Okay, I’ll bring them in. But…”

I swallow hard, nervous.

“I lost the bracelet last night.”

“WHAT?!”

“It must’ve come off when that guy grabbed me or when I hit him, or I don’t know, someone could’ve easily swiped it off me when I was pushing through the crowd and I wouldn’t have noticed.”

“Aria, you’re going to have to pay them for it now.”

“I know.”

“You still have to bring the earrings and necklace back to the club.”

My heart rate kicks up.

“What? Why? Can’t I bring them to you at the agency and you’ll get them to them?”

“I just do as the client wishes, Aria. And since you’re in possession of upwards of a hundred grand or more of their gems, I suggest you do as they ask, too. Mr. Bychkov wanted me to convey that if you didn’t return them in person this morning at the club, then charges would be pressed against you for grand larceny.”

“What?”

My voice is barely a whisper, the word forced through my suddenly tight throat.

“Yes. The contract says they have full legal power to press charges or sue you if they choose to.”

“Fine,”

I clip, and hang up, fed up with her attitude. Especially after how she treated me last night.

“What did she say?”

Gia asks carefully.

“She said she had to tell Mr. Bychkov that I didn’t hand in the jewelry last night and his response was for me to bring them to the club this morning or they’re going to call the police and charge me with grand larceny.”

“Fuck,”

she whispers.

“Which Bychkov said this? You said there were six of them. Is Daniil in charge of the diamond business?”

“No, I don’t know which one. They told me Kirill is the club owner, the vodka was Nikolai’s thing, and the diamonds belonged to Maksim. Daniil is obviously the boss, and the other two, I don’t know.”

“You sure remembered that well,”

she says with a sneaky little grin.

“I have a good memory,”

I grumble, then finish off my coffee.

“But G, this isn’t good. I know Daniil is the one threatening me with the police. Why does he want me back there so badly?”

“I don’t know, but I have an idea. A fun little plan if you’re okay with it.”

“What is it?”

I ask cautiously, knowing she doesn’t ever just have ‘a fun little plan’.

“I’ll bring the jewelry back for you. I don’t think I’ll be so enthralled by his dark charms as you’ve described them, so I can keep a level head and handle the situation and get out of there.”

“Are you kidding me? No!”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want you getting mixed up in my mess. I’ll take care of it.”

“Aria,”

Gia starts, taking my hand.

“You know I know you better than anyone. If you want to see him again, then you go. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to get in deeper with him despite how excited I was before. So, I’m offering to go instead and shut that shit down. You know I love crushing men’s spirits more than I love a good espresso martini.”

I can’t help but laugh.

“Yeah, I know you do. And it’s always been fun to watch you put men in their place, but this isn’t the man you want to do that with. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I can handle myself. Jonny took me to the range a few times so I’d know how to shoot if I ever needed to.”

“He took you to a gun range?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re only telling me this now?”

She shrugs and looks down into her mug.

“He didn’t want anyone to know. He knew Saverio, or anyone else in the family, wouldn’t like it.”

“Okay, but you didn’t tell me.”

“It’s nothing,”

she says too quickly, and I know exactly why she didn’t tell me. Jonny has always been the picture of professionalism, but she loves to tease him and get in trouble on purpose to push his buttons and see if she can get a reaction out of him. He’s never made a move on her, though, no matter how much she wants him to. Of course, he’d probably end up with his hands cut off or dead in the Hudson if he so much as touched her when he was supposed to be protecting her.

“I’ll let it go for now,”

I tell her gently, and her shoulders relax. Yeah, there’s definitely more to her and Jonny that she’s not sharing. I wonder when that changed.

“I’ll take my gun and go myself. I’m a good shot.”

My eyes almost bug out.

“You have your own gun?”

“Yeah. Jonny gave me one to keep here in case we’re ever in trouble and he can’t get here in time.”

“Where is it?”

I look around the living room like she’d have it sitting out on the coffee table or something and I’ve just missed it this entire time.

“It’s locked in its case in my closet.”

“You’re dropping some secrets on me right now that have me wondering how many more you’ve been keeping from me.”

Gia rolls her eyes.

“It’s not like that. Look, don’t deflect from the immediate issue we need to figure out. I’m going to take your checkbook, go to the club, and come right home. There will be no succumbing to his sexy eyes or body since I wouldn’t make a move on a man you want – whether you want to want him or not – and you know who I really want.”

In a rare vulnerable moment, Gia admits it out loud what she’s refused to admit for years, and I frown, squeezing her hand.

She shakes it off and runs her hand through her hair.

“I mean, we’re twins, no matter which brother shows up to collect, they won’t know the difference, right? I’ll tone down my natural bitchiness as I’m sure you were quite cordial last night.”

“For the most part. I did snap at him a few times, I think. I could tell he liked it.”

“Perfect.”

She beams, unfolding her legs and standing.

“I better get ready. And don’t worry, we used to pretend to be each other for fun all the time. It’ll be like flexing a muscle I haven’t used in a while.”

Gia is so sure of this plan, but I have reservations. For starters, I don’t take Daniil Bychkov as a man easily tricked.